The Architecture of My Education: My Five Pillars

  "The Architecture of My Education"

Original Media by Carissa Baldwin made via Piktochart

Photos 2 and 6 courtesy of Matt Cashore and NDNROTC

     The University of Notre Dame is not just a prestigious university, it is a hard-working, loving community unified by the five pillars of the Holy Cross Education: Mind, Heart, Family, Hope, and Zeal. Together, these pillars create an environment in which Notre Dame students can come together from all backgrounds and work towards the enlightenment of the body, mind, and soul through education and interpersonal interaction.

     I have fallen in love with this system of study, where young men and women are a family in education, of all majors, backgrounds, languages, and goals. Inspired by these pillars and by my Moreau experience, I thought about my own approach to my journey in education, defining my experience with the five pillars of Dream, Overcome, Effort, Passion, and Determination, found explored above in a graphic accompanied by photos from my own life. Together, these five aspects work together create an image of an education shaped by hard work and dedication to the goals, values, and inspirations that I feel should be held central to intellectual development. Passion and Dream, to me, are the pillars that inspire and push my education to another level, providing the drive and direction for pursuing what I love. Together, Effort, Overcome, and Determination create a growth mindset and a strong dedication to the inspirations I aim to achieve, and I believe that hard work and the refusal to give up truly shape a learner, and therefore a lifetime of learning. I admit that these pillars are much more centered around the individual, but I believe that like Fr. Basil Moreau’s brilliant pillars, my architecture for an education can inspire communal dedication and effort towards our hopes for our lives and the world.

     When I wake up and see the Golden Dome shining outside of my window, I am reminded of how my five pillars have encouraged me through the years to push past trials and carry on, an effort of passion that brought me here to this amazing university to be among my beloved peers. I aim each day to be a representation of the educational values I believe in so strongly, inspired by the Moreau course’s emphasis on grit, community, and personal values, and my own personal hopes, that I may graduate from the University of Notre Dame as a stronger person in mind, body, and heart.